Post by Fryguy64 on Aug 1, 2004 7:04:35 GMT -5
Welcome. Come in, pour yourself a brew and sit around the fire as I talk about something at great length. Today my topic is game controls, particularly in 3D games. But I will explain more specifically why in a moment.
The Gamecube has been home to a lot of sequels to N64 games. Aside from the odd exception (Pikmin, Metroid Prime), nearly all of Nintendo's catalogue take ideas from N64 games. That's fine by me, as many SNES games also expanded on their NES prequels as well. But one thing that is surprising me time and again is the game controls.
For an example I will take Super Mario Sunshine. I loved the game as I was already familiar with how Mario would move around this game world. I would try and get to places by unusual means by playing around with Mario's many nimble jumping techniques. One thing I found was how simple Wall Jumps were - something that I always found quite difficult in Super Mario 64. After completing Sunshine I went back and played Super Mario 64 again, but this time it was easy to pull off Wall Jumps. I'd not played any games in between that would improve this little skill, so I put it down to the Gamecube controls being better, and so easier to practice on, than the N64 controls. I thought this would be the end of it... but it wasn't.
I came across the same phenomenon again during Mario Kart: Double Dash!! I was a lame duck at boosting whilst skidding - something so important to Mario Kart 64. But now, in this new iteration, I was pulling off skid-boosts easily. Again I plugged in Mario Kart 64 and, again, skid boosts were simpler in the N64 version as well.
I've come across this a few more times. Smash Attacks in Super Smash Bros. Melee made doing the same attacks in Super Smash Bros. a lot more intuitive. Playing 1080 Avalanche has made me a million times better at 1080 Snowboarding. It's not that these later games are much simpler, as evidenced by how easy it turns out to be on the prequel. It must be that the Gamecube's controls are perfect for practicing analogue control on. So good that it makes the celebrated N64 controller look like more of an expert's 3D controller, while the Gamecube is the 3D controller of choice for everyone else.
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Or did you all sell your N64s as soon as the Gamecube was released
What N64 games have been made easier by your Gamecube playing?
The Gamecube has been home to a lot of sequels to N64 games. Aside from the odd exception (Pikmin, Metroid Prime), nearly all of Nintendo's catalogue take ideas from N64 games. That's fine by me, as many SNES games also expanded on their NES prequels as well. But one thing that is surprising me time and again is the game controls.
For an example I will take Super Mario Sunshine. I loved the game as I was already familiar with how Mario would move around this game world. I would try and get to places by unusual means by playing around with Mario's many nimble jumping techniques. One thing I found was how simple Wall Jumps were - something that I always found quite difficult in Super Mario 64. After completing Sunshine I went back and played Super Mario 64 again, but this time it was easy to pull off Wall Jumps. I'd not played any games in between that would improve this little skill, so I put it down to the Gamecube controls being better, and so easier to practice on, than the N64 controls. I thought this would be the end of it... but it wasn't.
I came across the same phenomenon again during Mario Kart: Double Dash!! I was a lame duck at boosting whilst skidding - something so important to Mario Kart 64. But now, in this new iteration, I was pulling off skid-boosts easily. Again I plugged in Mario Kart 64 and, again, skid boosts were simpler in the N64 version as well.
I've come across this a few more times. Smash Attacks in Super Smash Bros. Melee made doing the same attacks in Super Smash Bros. a lot more intuitive. Playing 1080 Avalanche has made me a million times better at 1080 Snowboarding. It's not that these later games are much simpler, as evidenced by how easy it turns out to be on the prequel. It must be that the Gamecube's controls are perfect for practicing analogue control on. So good that it makes the celebrated N64 controller look like more of an expert's 3D controller, while the Gamecube is the 3D controller of choice for everyone else.
Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Or did you all sell your N64s as soon as the Gamecube was released
What N64 games have been made easier by your Gamecube playing?
.
